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News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of Washington DCTue, 31 Mar 2015 22:12:39 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/b87f6ea5e510fe3d34ffe9a8dbe8c1cf?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png » Only CBShttp://washington.cbslocal.com
CBS Leads Daytime Emmys With 62 Nominationshttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/cbs-leads-daytime-emmys-with-62-nominations/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/cbs-leads-daytime-emmys-with-62-nominations/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:16:45 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=410875It was a clean sweep for CBS on Tuesday as the the network received Emmy nominations for every show in its daytime lineup.]]>LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — It was a clean sweep for CBS on Tuesday as the the network received Emmy nominations for every show in its daytime lineup.

CBS received a total of 62 nods – more than any other network – including 25 for “The Young and the Restless” and 19 more for “The Bold And The Beautiful” as the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the “42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” nominations during a live taping of CBS’ daytime talk show “The Talk.”

Long-running game shows “Let’s Make A Deal” and “The Price Is Right” each received two nominations each, while daytime talker “The Talk” was honored with 7 nods, the most in the show’s history.

CBS’ Saturday morning lineup received four nominations, with three for “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation” and the fourth for “Lucky Dog’s” Brandon McMillan, who received a nomination for Outstanding Lifestyle/Travel/Children’s Series Host.

Of course, much of this isn’t too surprising as CBS Daytime has been #1 in the day-part for 28 consecutive years, featuring a balance of dramas, game shows and talk.

The Daytime Emmys will air live exclusively on Pop on Sunday, April 26 (8:00 PM, ET/5:00 PM, PT).

And don’t miss “The Talk” as it continues the celebration with its fourth annual “After Party” on Monday, April 27 when they honor some of the night’s biggest winners. Those guests’ names will be announced following the Daytime Emmy Awards early Monday morning, April 27.

For more Entertainment news and information from CBS Local, click here.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/cbs-leads-daytime-emmys-with-62-nominations/feed/0James Corden’s ‘Late Late Show’ Social Media Pitch Speaks On Digital Agehttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/james-cordens-late-late-show-social-media-pitch-speaks-on-digital-age/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/james-cordens-late-late-show-social-media-pitch-speaks-on-digital-age/#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 16:28:12 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=409138Corden’s seemingly never-ending list of social media accounts to follow him on is both a hilarious joke and a commentary on the digital age humans live in now]]>“Follow us on…”

Three simple words that can make a big difference in marketing and viewership. In the 21st century, these are probably the three most-heard words across almost all forms of media, whether it be print, television, or even radio.

Culture’s obsession with being followed on all forms of social media was the butt of a recent joke by “The Late Late Show’s” James Corden, who ended his show by telling his viewers where to request tickets before heading into the obligatory mention of how to follow his show on social media.

But Corden’s social media follow requests didn’t end like most. See for yourself:

Corden’s seemingly never-ending list of social media accounts to follow him on is both a hilarious joke and a commentary on the digital age humans live in now; one filled with an overabundance of ways to stay connected and entertained.

The digital age has influenced how viewers watch television and even interact with it.

From streaming television favorites through services like CBS All Access to live-tweeting major television events, the television landscape has changed substantially over the years.

The public’s use of social media has grown exponentially since the likes of Facebook and tweets of Twitter were first introduced to the world almost a decade ago, and there are no signs of the onslaught of social media apps and platforms slowing down any time soon.

It’s safe to say that when television first broadcast in 1926 nobody saw this coming.

Make sure to tune into “The Late Show Late Show” weeknights at 12:35am ET only on CBS.

(Oh, and if you didn’t catch all of Corden’s long list, you can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You’re on your own for all those others, so good luck with finding Chipster and Funster.)

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/james-cordens-late-late-show-social-media-pitch-speaks-on-digital-age/feed/0James Corden Plays Nice As ‘Late Late Show’ Hosthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/24/james-corden-plays-nice-as-late-late-show-host/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/24/james-corden-plays-nice-as-late-late-show-host/#commentsTue, 24 Mar 2015 16:06:20 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=408818James Corden began his foray as the "Late Late Show" host with a schoolboy's giggle and a bid to endear himself to viewers as a nice English bloke looking for a little American TV love.]]>LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Corden began his foray as the “Late Late Show” host with a schoolboy’s giggle and a bid to endear himself to viewers as a nice English bloke looking for a little American TV love.

Guests Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis joined the cause Monday, with videotaped cameos from celebrities including Meryl Streep, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jay Leno.

“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Oh, look, Andy Richter’s got his own show,'” Corden said as he strode onto the CBS Television City stage.

The reference to Conan O’Brien’s sidekick wasn’t far afield: Corden and Richter both are round-faced, egg-shaped and genial. But this time, the apparent second banana is the star and part of CBS’ new late-night guard that will include Stephen Colbert as successor to “Late Show” host David Letterman.

The British-born Corden has the credentials for top billing, with TV sitcom hits in his native country including “Gavin & Stacey,” a Tony Award for “One Man, Two Guvnors” on Broadway and a big-screen role in “Into the Woods.”

But Corden downplayed his career and played up his family, introducing himself as married — “Sorry, ladies, this ship has sailed” — and the father of a 4-year-old son and infant daughter.

“I promise you we’re going to have fun on this show, and I promise you we’re going to do everything we can to put a smile on your face before, or let’s be honest, more likely whilst you fall asleep,” Corden pledged, earnestly.

His parents, visiting Los Angeles from the U.K. for the first time, were in the audience and came in for gentle ribbing.

Corden’s brief opening bypassed topical jokes, possibly a sign of his style and certainly because the show was recorded Sunday. Giggles punctuated his remarks, indicating opening-night jitters for the first-time TV host who replaced Craig Ferguson.

The show’s fast-moving credits sent Corden and musician-comedian Reggie Watts, his bandleader, on a red-convertible tour of LA. Then Corden cued a video that purported to show how he, a relative unknown here, got the plum job.

CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, announcing a new “Late Late” host will be picked “the way we’ve always done it,” hides a golden ticket inside a candy bar wrapper. Hopefuls seen searching for it include Simon Cowell, Lena Dunham (“This is misogyny,” she declares, after coming up empty) and Katie Couric.

When Jenny McCarthy drops her unopened winning bar, Corden finds it and he’s in — after Leno takes on the task of getting him ready (which includes slaps and, yes, waterboarding). Help also comes from Streep as a guardian angel and Shia LaBeouf as a mock guest who tests Corden’s listening skills with his self-absorption.

“I’m a deeply dissatisfied person. And I think that’s a job requirement for any actor,” LaBeouf says, drawing yawns from Corden.

Then it was back to the studio and something new, at least on the American talk show scene, as Corden brought Hanks and Kunis out at the same time in the style of some British talk shows. More change came with the seating chart: Corden was parked at a desk to the right of his guests, and even wheeled his chair out to cozy up to them.

“I’m thrown by it,” Hanks said, wryly, of the spatial upheaval.

Good-guy Hanks later launched himself into a survey of his many films, he and Corden rapidly changing outfits and props to depict scenes from old films (“Sleepless in Seattle”) and new (“Captain Phillips”).

The evening ended with a song from Corden, in which he promised, “I’ll be right back here tomorrow and I hope you will too.”

If viewers don’t immediately take the bait, the show’s producers have pointed out they have two more opportunities to reintroduce Corden: During the hoopla over Letterman’s retirement in May and when Colbert debuts in September.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/24/james-corden-plays-nice-as-late-late-show-host/feed/0Tom Hanks, Mila Kunis, Chris Pine Among First Guests On ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/20/tom-hanks-mila-kunis-chris-pine-among-first-guests-on-the-late-late-show-with-james-corden/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/20/tom-hanks-mila-kunis-chris-pine-among-first-guests-on-the-late-late-show-with-james-corden/#commentsFri, 20 Mar 2015 23:57:10 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=408182Music guests in the next few weeks include George Ezra, Noel Gallagher and Jessie Ware.]]>By Brian Ives

On Monday night (March 23), CBS’s newest late night show—titled, appropriately enough, The Late Late Show with James Corden—will make its debut, and it will be launching with a lot of star power.

Monday night’s guests will include (as previously announced) both Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis. On Tuesday, actor Chris Pine (Captain Kirk from the Star Trek reboots) will appear on the show, which will also feature a performance by indie rockers Modest Mouse. And Wednesday will feature Get Hard co-stars Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell with musical guest Leon Bridges.

NEW YORK (AP) — An odd-couple cop drama with a not-so-buddy comedy streak: That’s “Battle Creek,” which pairs a hard-bitten detective from the budget-strapped police force in Battle Creek, Michigan, with a golden-boy agent in the flush FBI who seems incapable of making an uncertain move.

Needless to say, these partners-under-duress clash in personality and crime-solving style.

“Battle Creek,” which airs on CBS on Sunday (10 p.m. EDT), stars Dean Winters as cynical Detective Russ Agnew and Josh Duhamel as silky-smooth Special Agent Milton Chamberlain. In separate phone conversations recently, they discussed their new series, their roles and each other.

WINTERS: “After a snowstorm last February I thought, ‘I haven’t felt the snow on my head in a long time.’ I had long hair at the time, and I went and shaved it. The very next day I got a call about ‘Battle Creek,’ and I went out to L.A. for a meeting on the show. I got the job, but they said, ‘Please don’t cut your hair again!'”

DUHAMEL: “I liked the script, but my character I wasn’t so sure about. He seemed too button-down and perfect. I said to the producers, ‘Tell me there’s more to this guy than that.’ The more we talked, the more interesting he became.”

WINTERS: “We’ve seen cop shows where the partners don’t get along — most recently, ‘True Detective.’ But this show is lighthearted and felt like something fresh. Plus, we film in L.A., and it was 4 degrees in New York. I wanted to get out of there!”

DUHAMEL: “I took this role because it was a good opportunity to misdirect the audience. I’m not trying to play a handsome guy who everybody loves. I want to play a guy who’s hard to pin down.”

WINTERS: “I think Josh feels like he has something to prove, because it’s so easy to pin him down as just the good-looking guy, which can be a burden. And he’s a great-looking guy all right! You have to put on sunglasses when he walks into the room, just to tone it down. He deals with that by being a good actor.”

DUHAMEL (whose credits include “All My Children” as well as “Las Vegas” and the feature “Transformers,” and whose wife of five years is Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas): “I’m trying to surprise people, to say I’m more than a handsome guy. If people see me as just that person, then it’s my job to make them feel differently.”

WINTERS: “There’s some stuff coming down the road concerning Josh’s character that no one could have predicted. They’re NOT gonna write Josh as this Zeus-like pretty boy for the whole series!”

DUHAMEL: “I understand completely why Dean’s character can’t stand the guy I play. I don’t like the guy either! But that’s part of the fun of it. I’m happy to play this kind of character that I’m trying not to play anymore, as long as I know underneath he’s got serious issues. And this guy does! He’s a troubled soul. He’s got a lot of stuff to overcome.”

WINTERS: “I like playing the underdog on this show. I think there’s more for me to sink my teeth into. But lots of characters I’ve played have been kind of (screwed) up.” (Like his sleazy jailbird on the HBO prison drama “Oz,” his betraying brother on the firehouse series “Rescue Me” and his hapless beeper salesman on “30 Rock,” not to mention trouble-making Mayhem on the Allstate commercials.) “But as cranky and gruff as I am on ‘Battle Creek,’ and as polished and mysterious as Josh’s character is, both are very altruistic in the end game. And they’re professionals. I think that’s what keeps them from strangling each other.”

DUHAMEL: “They need each other! But I would hate for these guys to ever become buddies. I hope they never get along. I hope the rift gets deeper and deeper. But for that to work, there’s got to be a lot of trust between the actors off-camera. And Dean is a really solid dude. He’s a compassionate guy, a loving guy.”

WINTERS: “Josh is a mischievous guy with a twinkle in his eye. He’s a joy to be around. We have a really nice thing going.”

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/battle-creek-stars-dean-winters-josh-duhamel-cracking-cases-as-they-clash/feed/0The British Are Coming To Late-Night: Corden Ready To Take Overhttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/the-british-are-coming-to-late-night-corden-ready-to-take-over/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/the-british-are-coming-to-late-night-corden-ready-to-take-over/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 14:21:31 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=407597James Corden is the perfect host.]]>LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Corden is the perfect host.

He offers a visitor to his modest office at CBS Television City a pillow for an uncomfortable chair. He raids a mini-fridge for drinks, suggesting bottled coffee (“Only three calories!”). He’s attentive and appealing in conversation.

That’s for an audience of one. Now Corden must demonstrate that he’s got what it takes to please viewers when he takes over CBS’ “The Late Late Show,” Craig Ferguson’s former home, on Monday just after 12:30 a.m. EDT.

He’s proved himself elsewhere. Corden sang, danced and tumbled his way to a 2012 Tony Award for the exuberant farce “One Man, Two Guvnors”; co-starred in the movie adaptation of “Into the Woods”; and scored TV hits in his native England including “Gavin & Stacey” and “The Wrong Mans.”

Despite Corden’s estimable reputation on Broadway and in Britain, he’s largely unknown to viewers on this side of the pond.

“No matter how shocked you or anyone else might be that I’m doing the show, I’m as shocked if not more,” he said. “I never thought that this would be something that would come my way.”

It was Corden’s New York stage performance that prompted CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler to consider him as a possible successor to Ferguson, who exited in December.

“You knew that you were in the presence of someone a little crazy and someone incredibly talented,” Tassler told reporters earlier this year. “He’s a combination of Jack Black and Fred Astaire. He’s pretty magic.”

Performing was his childhood dream and a family tradition, Corden said. His great-grandfather was a musician and so was his grandfather, who toured with Shirley Bassey and other prominent singers. Corden’s father, now a Christian book salesman, was a musician in Britain’s Royal Air Force.

“There was never a minute where I ever, ever wanted to do anything else,” Corden said.

The show they’re building aims to feature Corden’s talents and provide a comfortable spotlight for his guests, the producers said — a message they’ve delivered to celebrity publicists who may be wary that Corden shares countryman Ricky Gervais’ mercilessly sharp tongue.

As for specifics, Corden and his producers said the show is and will be a work in progress, even as it airs. They are eager to import an element that’s part of some British talk shows: bringing all the guests out together, rather than one by one as is common here.

The intended result is spontaneity, Corden said, “seeing people interact in a way that is a bit more interesting.”

The show’s location is a reflection of the talk-show traffic jam in New York — including the transplanted “Tonight Show” — which has made guest bookings more competitive. In Los Angeles, “Late Late Show” has Kimmel and Conan O’Brien as its chief rivals in the talent hunt.

“We could be like third banana here, while in New York we’d be like ninth banana,” Crabbe said.

Tom Hanks, an undisputed A-lister, and Mila Kunis are the opening-night guests, followed by Kerry Washington and Chris Pine on Tuesday and Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell on Wednesday. Modest Mouse and Leon Bridges are the announced musical performers.

The show is starting out with an abbreviated launch, making way on Thursday and Friday for CBS Sports’ coverage of NCAA basketball.

That’s OK with Corden and his crew, who figure they’ve got a settling-in period ahead of them and several chances to introduce the show to potential viewers. The first is the debut, the second is during the hoopla over Letterman’s retirement and the third when Colbert starts.

Among the challenges is the void that exists between Letterman’s departure and Colbert’s entrance, which will be filled by reruns of CBS dramas. There’s also NBC’s ratings advantage, with No. 1 “Tonight” providing a strong lead-in to Corden’s direct competitor, “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”

All he can do is work hard, Corden said, who moved from London to Los Angeles with his wife and their two young children. He makes no bones about feeling the pressure on behalf of them and his colleagues who uprooted their families as well.

But, in classic British style, he mined a self-deprecating laugh with worst-case imagined news headlines.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/the-british-are-coming-to-late-night-corden-ready-to-take-over/feed/0Behind the Song: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill – ‘Meanwhile Back at Mama’s’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/tim-mcgraw-faith-hill-meanwhile-back-at-mamas-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/tim-mcgraw-faith-hill-meanwhile-back-at-mamas-behind-the-song/#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2015 18:47:40 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=407039When Jaren Johnston, Tom Douglas and Jeffrey Steele initially wrote the ACM Award-nominated song "Meanwhile Back at Mama's," they never intended for it to be a duet.]]>By Kurt Wolff

According to Jaren Johnston, when he, Tom Douglas and Jeffrey Steele initially wrote their song “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s,” they never intended for it to be a duet.

“[We] just wrote a folky thing,” the Cadillac Three singer explained to Radio.com of the song—a slower-paced ballad that focuses on the simple pleasures of quiet country life.

So when word came that Tim McGraw was interested in cutting the song, Johnston was blown away. “They said it was going to be a single and I was like, ‘Holy crap! That’s crazy,'” Johnston said.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. The song, he was informed, would not only be a single but a duet between McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill.

“[Big Machine Label Group President] Scott Borchetta said, ‘You know it’s going to be a duet, right?’ And I was like, ‘Who are they going to get?’ I had no idea. He’s like, ‘Faith’s going to sing on it.’ I was like, ‘Score! Touchdown!'”

McGraw has cut a variety of material in his more than two-decade-long career, but “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” stands as one of his quietest moments. Something about the homey, laid-back “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s,” though, struck him at his emotional core.

It’s a song of reflection that steps aside from our “crazy” modern world, if only for a few brief minutes. It’s a reminder, too, that while country music may continue to evolve in new and different directions, sometimes it’s the simplest, most familiar-sounding melody that captures the moment.

“What I wouldn’t give for a slow down,” McGraw sings in the song, “’cause where I come from, only the horses run.”

“Right off the bat, it probably wasn’t four bars into the songs that I knew I wanted to cut it,” McGraw explains to Radio.com. “The phrasing of it, and what it said, and how it developed…I knew just from the phrasing that I wanted to cut the song right away. Because you sort of had an idea of the gravity of the song.”

McGraw says he first heard the song in the car, after picking his daughter Audrey up from school. The second time was later that same day.

“I got home, I walked into the house and I said, ‘Faith, you’ve got to hear this song.’ So I played her the song, and when it got to the end and it said, ‘me and you back at Mama’s,’ a flood of tears just came down from her eyes.”

He smiles at the memory, and at how immediate a reaction they both had to the song. And he hatched a plan that very moment. “I said, ‘Not only am I going to cut, but you’re going to sing it with me.’ And that’s how it was born, right there.”

McGraw continues to describe why the song was so attractive to him: “Because of what it said, because of our life together, how we felt about family.”

‘Cause meanwhile back at Mama’s The porch light’s on, come on in if you wanna Supper’s on the stove and beer’s in the fridge Red sun sinkin’ out low on the ridge

“Every time we record a song [together], we try to make it feel like it’s a special song,” McGraw says. “Before we think of recording it, we want it to feel special to us. And that song just had ‘special’ written all over it, when we first heard it, together like that.”

Johnston has written hit songs before (McGraw’s “Southern Girl,” Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly,” Jake Owen’s “Beachin'” and “Days of Gold”), but as he explained, “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” turned out to be “a big moment” for him as a songwriter. That’s because, as McGraw himself explained, the country superstar has only done a handful of duets with his wife. And, notes, Johnson, “those have been mega songs for him. Career songs.”

Johnston also noted that McGraw and Hill didn’t make drastic changes to the song, choosing to keep its laid-back tone and arrangement. “My demo is very similar to what they did,” Johnston says, which he still finds surprising. “I didn’t think anybody would cut it like that as a single. You don’t hear anything like that on the radio anymore.”

Well, apparently now you do.

“Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” serves as a potent reminder that, while country music may continue to evolve in new and different directions, sometimes it’s the simplest, most familiar-sounding melody that captures the moment, and our attention.

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/tim-mcgraw-faith-hill-meanwhile-back-at-mamas-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Keith Urban – ‘Cop Car’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/keith-urban-cop-car-sam-hunt-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/keith-urban-cop-car-sam-hunt-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 14:45:38 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406665"Never have I heard the song written from the point of view of a guy who’s in the back of a cop car with handcuffs on, watching a girl go completely redneck crazy at the cops," Keith Urban said.]]>By Annie Reuter

Country music is well known for its storytelling. Keith Urban‘s “Cop Car” exemplifies this point. Written by Sam Hunt, Zack Crowell and Matt Jenkins, the ACM Award-nominated song hit Urban the moment he heard it.

“It’s very hard to find new ways to serve love songs. They’ve all been done, you know? We’ve heard them all,” Urban said in an interview. “But never have I heard the song written from the point of view of a guy who’s in the back of a cop car with handcuffs on, watching a girl go completely redneck crazy at the cops. And he’s like, ‘I am getting so turned on right now.’ So, I love that song.”

Hunt, who put the song on his debut album Montevallo last year, was at producer Crowell’s house when the song began to take shape.

“Zach Crowell had this track that he was playing,” Hunt recalls. “The guitars were on there and the drum beat. It was very pretty, and I got into the vocal booth to freestyle, sing, make up melodies and lyrics. What naturally came out lyrically was lovey-dovey and a little too romantic. When the lyric and the music were pretty, I felt like it was too much. So I thought, ‘How can I put a little tough edge to this track?'”

Hunt then remembered an experience he had a few years prior while in college that involved sneaking into an airport.

“I got into a little bit of trouble at an airport after sneaking in and watching these airplanes fly over and land,” he remembers with a smile. “It was entertaining and in a little area in Alabama, where there wasn’t a lot to do when I was in college.”

Hunt threw the concept out there to Crowell and Jenkins and they began working on the lyrics to form what is now known as “Cop Car.” He admits, though, that they were initially hesitant about the song’s topic.

“It was such a radical concept that, at first, we didn’t know if it was too far out there or if it could work as an idea for a song,” he recalls. “As we kept chipping away at it, it just naturally came about, and it just felt right. It was a cool story song. I have had other story songs but that was one that was special and inspired by some true events.”

The first line that came to Hunt was “I fell in love in the back of a cop car”; the lyric “there was something about the way the blue lights were shining bringing out the freedom in your eyes” quickly came after.

“At that point, we felt like there was enough there. We felt like it was worth going after.”

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/keith-urban-cop-car-sam-hunt-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Dierks Bentley – ‘Drunk on a Plane’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/dierks-bentley-drunk-on-a-plane-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/dierks-bentley-drunk-on-a-plane-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 14:43:49 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406661One of 2014's biggest country hits was almost a song about a hurricane.]]>By Kurt Wolff

One of 2014’s biggest country hits was almost a song about a hurricane. Instead, thanks to the power of collaboration that happens so often among Nashville’s songwriting community, the idea Dierks Bentley first brought to the room transformed into “Drunk on a Plane.”

The second single from Bentley’s 2014 album Riser, “Drunk on a Plane” hit No. 1 and quickly became a favorite among Bentley’s fans, a song that mixes emotions (the sadness of lost love with the pure joy of a spontaneous party) and becomes an infectious song to which you can’t help but sing along. Now it’s also been nominated for Single of the Year and Video of the Year and the 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

“Drunk on a Plane” begins with a guy who’s been left at the alter, and because his honeymoon plane tickets and resort fee weren’t refundable, he decides to go to Cancun by himself anyway. On the plane he starts drinking, and before he knows it, a party has erupted. “Buyin’ drinks for everybody but the pilot, it’s a party,” Bentley sings.

It’s Mardi Gras up in the clouds I’m up so high, I may never come down I’ll try anything to drown out the pain They all know why I’m getting drunk on a plane

So, where did the idea for the song come from? When Radio.com asks Bentley to tell us the origin story of “Drunk on a Plane,” he rolls his eyes a little and smiles hard. “Some songs you don’t want to know how they got made,” he says.

By way of example, he brings up “I Hold On,” his previous single (which also earned a 2015 ACM Award nomination). “I was at home, my dad had passed away, I was watching the sunset, I was thinking about our road trip from Phoenix to Nashville in this truck, about why I hold onto it. So it came from a real organic place.”

“Drunk on a Plane,” on the other hand, doesn’t have the same sort of deep, personal meaning. Instead, says Bentley, the song “was just the result of grinding away and writing songs every day for a year.”

That’s again where the power of collaboration comes in. Because as Bentley says, his origin idea for the song was not so hot.

“I walked into a writing room one day with Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins, two great writers, and I had this idea called ‘Hurricane You.’ It’s like the worst….” He stops and smiles. “As a songwriter, you have to be really good at throwing out terrible ideas and having no pride,” he continues. “So like, ‘I got this idea, alright. It’s about this girl….’ I think there had been a big hurricane somewhere, so I was like, ‘How about a song called Hurricane You?'”

As Bentley describes it, Kear and Tompkins were less than enthusiastic. “They were like, ‘OK, wow,'” he says, laughing. “In Nashville, if you don’t like an idea you say, ‘interesting.’ So that’s when you know it’s a bad idea.”

But all was not lost, because Bentley’s idea sparked another. “Josh Kear was like, ‘I’ve always had this idea of just ‘drunk on a plane.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I love planes, I love flying, and of course I love having a few drinks, so it was just a really cool idea.”

So was it always a party song? Dierks thinks for a few seconds, trying to get his mind back into that moment. For him, he finally explains, it wound up being a great mixture of emotions, layers of joy and emotional release on top of a well of sadness. “It’s kinda like a clown who’s smiling on the outside by crying on the inside,” he says. “I like that. Even though it’s a song called ‘Drunk on a Plane,’ there’s some depth to the story and to the music. It’s a good story. Relatable.”

Bentley also explains that “Drunk on a Plane” was one of the later additions to Riser, and being built around a rowdy sing-along chorus, it brought a balance to some of the album’s heavier songs.

On the album it appears after the song “Here On Earth.” The song that followed, says Bentley, needed “to be a release, not only to me, but the person listening. It’s like a gift. ‘Thanks for putting up with that last song. Thanks for crying. Here’s your reward.’”

And, of course, it works well live.

“You can’t forget what you’re there to do on a Friday, Saturday night,” Bentley says of the concert experience. “People have worked hard all week, they’re spending money for your show. You’re there to have a good time and not get too inside yourself.” So songs like “Drunk on a Plane” play a vital role. They “might not be as serious, but they are just as important as something you might write that’s heavier.”

It’s been a high-rotation radio hit and received numerous accolades, including Single of the Year nomination at the 50th ACM Awards, but Lee Brice‘s single “I Don’t Dance” actually had humble beginnings. The song started with just the title, a quick three words that Brice wrote down in a ‘notes’ program on his phone.

“If I get ideas, a title, anything—even if it’s not good—I just write it down,” Brice explained to Radio.com. “So I can just scroll back through, and maybe those ideas pop back out at me. Well, I wrote ‘I don’t dance’ down in my phone a long time ago.”

Later, Brice says, during a songwriting session with two of his buddies, Rob Hatch and Dallas Davidson, the idea resurfaced. “He [Davidson] had said something about ‘dance’ just in passing. And that title popped out, and we just started [writing] it.”

The premise for “I Don’t Dance” is simple. It’s about a guy who knows he’s not much of a dancer, but for the right woman, he’s more than willing to give it a go, because he knows he’ll do anything for her. “I don’t dance, but here I am,” Brice sings, “spinning you round and round in circles.”

“It’s really simple,” said Brice, “but it’s so true and to the point.”

Brice said that, originally, in his mind “I Don’t Dance” was “a song for Sarah, before we got married,” referring to his then-fiancee Sarah Reevely, whom he married last year. “It was kind of about our first dance.”

But then, during that writing session, the song took on a new life of its own. As Brice explained, something “magic” happened that took “I Don’t Dance” from being a song he planned to play at his own wedding to a single that can speak to anyone and everyone.

“Immediately when we finished writing it, I realized it wasn’t just a song I was writing for my wife,” Brice said. “Maybe because it was coming from that place”—meaning, his own relationship and upcoming nuptials —but whatever the cause “it turned out so special.”

“It’s such a personal song,” said Brice. It’s “very honest and very real.”

That writing session, in fact, wound up being so “special” that, as Brice explained, the work tape that he, Hatch and Davidson made to document the newly written song wound up being used on the final recording. “I just added stuff around it,” Brice said. “That was it, that was the original live guitar and vocal work tape that’s [on the single]. It just had a magic to it.”

Since that songwriting session, “I Don’t Dance” has gone on to far greater acclaim than Brice or his writing buddies could have anticipated. It became the title track of his 2014 album, and it reached No. 1 on the country singles charts. Earlier this year, it also earned that aforementioned Academy of Country Music Awards nomination. (Brice’s previous single, “I Drive Your Truck,” won Song of the Year at the 2014 ACM Awards.)

The song also helped Brice find the direction he needed for I Don’t Dance, his third studio album, which he released last September.

Brice said he, Hatch and Davidson wrote “I Don’t Dance” in two days, but he knew right away this wasn’t an ordinary song. “I knew that day…I called [Hatch and Davidson], I said, ‘Guys, I think this is the title track to my record, this is the basis of what this next record is going to be.”

Brice said he “had a lot of songs already planned” for the album, but “I Don’t Dance” stood out. “I didn’t know exactly what the whole feeling [on the album] was going to be until I wrote ‘I Don’t Dance.’ I felt like it said, ‘This is who I am right now for this album space.’”

The 50th annual ACM Awards air live from Arlington, Texas on Sunday, April 19 at 8pm ET on CBS.

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/lee-brice-i-dont-dance-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Kenny Chesney – ‘American Kids’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/kenny-chesney-american-kids-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/kenny-chesney-american-kids-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:22:19 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406610"'American Kids' was that one thing that I was looking for that was different," Chesney said. "There's not that many of those songs around. We're an industry of chasers and copycats, we really are. That's just the way it is."]]>By Brian Ives

Kenny Chesney took a year off from the road in 2014 to give himself ample time to work on his ambitious latest album, The Big Revival. That’s no small decision considering Chesney’s 2013 tour took in $90 million.

But he felt he needed time to make an album worthy of his catalog. As he told Alan Light in a Radio.com interview, “It would have been very easy for us to make this record on a conveyor belt, because I’ve been guilty of that before. But I felt like I was at a place in my life where I deserve more and [the fans] deserve more. It was worth really digging into what I wanted the record to be and to see how I was going to take my audience to a place that maybe collectively we haven’t been before. And that’s hard to do — it’s hard to take time off the road because it’s a business, and for us it’s really big business.”

“‘American Kids’ was that one thing that I was looking for that was different,” Chesney said. “There’ s not that many of those songs around. We’re an industry of chasers and copycats, we really are. That’s just the way it is. And when you hear something completely different… I knew when I heard that song, that I was going to record it.”

The song describes small town life and includes lyrical references to classic rockers including Elton John and Bruce Springsteen and even Cheap Trick (“Blowin’ that smoke on a Saturday night/A little messed up, but we’re all alright” has shades of “Surrender”), Chesney felt his generation of mid-40-somethings might relate to it, but then realized that the song has even wider appeal.

“Especially if you come from a small town, I think there’s certain values that are inherent, that are very universal, in how we feel and the fears that we have and the insecurities that we have. There’s probably a lot of kids out there who want to be Drew Brees, or whoever, and they’re told as kids, ‘Well, that’s never really gonna happen for you.’ But it can happen for you. I was that kid, that was dreamin’, that didn’t have enough courage to dream until later on. I would go into the backyard at my grandmother’s house in eastern Tennessee and stare at the sky and wonder if there was anything for me past my county line. I think there’s a lot of kids out there like that, a lot of people who had that emotion. And I think that goes to the heart of ‘American Kids.'”

He admits that he’s also been that guy in the lyric, “Makin’ it to second base, but sayin’ you went all the way/Monday afternoon at practice.”

“I’ve been the guy at football practice, maybe stretching the truth just a little bit, about what happened with some girl over the weekend. That song is so real, it hit me right in the heart.”

The video shows Chesney performing the song in a hippified bus with a bunch of free-spirited American kids. Chesney says that he and his team took on the task of making it look psychedelic.

“That ‘American Kids’ bus, we painted it. That was the best therapy I’ve had all year, painting that bus. It was white before we started. But I doubt the inside of that bus has seen as much fun as ours.” That story, however, was reserved for a different song on the album, “If This Bus Could Talk,” which Chesney co-wrote.

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/kenny-chesney-american-kids-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Luke Bryan – ‘Drink A Beer’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/luke-bryan-drink-a-beer-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/luke-bryan-drink-a-beer-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:19:55 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406606"I walked up onto my tour bus that same night and played it for my bus driver and the band. I think it floored them too. We were blessed to get our hands on that one."]]>By Courtney E. Smith

One of the most affecting singles from Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party is “Drink A Beer.” The track, written by Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton, tells the story of a man missing someone who is gone–a universal story that Luke Bryan makes incredibly personal in his vocal interpretation.

“Somebody emailed it to me, I listened to it and it just tore me to pieces,” Bryan says of the first time he heard the song. “I knew that it was going to really be an amazing thing for me. I walked up onto my tour bus that same night and played it for my bus driver and the band. I think it floored them too. We were blessed to get our hands on that one.”

Stapleton isn’t just the co-writer of the song; his distinctive vocals can be heard on Bryan’s recording of the track, for which he sang background. Stapleton says he and Beavers were trying to find an interesting angle for a song called “Drink A Beer” that wasn’t a party song. The two options they came up with were either in celebration of some life event or in remembrance of someone who’d passed.

“I wrote the song with Jim Beavers and he walked into the session with the entire chorus already written. He didn’t necessarily know what the verses should be about,” Chris Stapleton recalls. “Me being me, and slightly morbid sometimes, I thought maybe it should be about somebody that passed away.”

Stapleton says the song came from a writing session between himself and Beavers, who came armed with the chorus already written and Stapleton repeatedly insists he was “just trying not to mess it up.” It was a perfect match for Bryan.

“The beautiful thing about Luke Bryan recording this song is that it was written from a fictitious place,” Stapleton says. “When Luke took it on as a song that he wanted to perform, that’s when it got legs and got life, because of some of his family history and some losses he’s had…I have to credit Luke, it was a good pairing of an artist and a song. Sometimes that’s when the magic happens: when the right song gets with the right artist. That was one of those times.”

Bryan’s special connection to the song was evident in his CMT performance, which later became the music video. In it he pays tribute to his two deceased siblings, Chris and Kelly. Chris died in a car accident in 1996 and Kelly passed unexpectedly in 2007 after collapsing in her home.

Bryan only began publicly talking about these tragedies in late 2013, around the time “Drink A Beer” was released as a single.

Watch this year’s ACM Awards airing April 19 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/luke-bryan-drink-a-beer-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Florida Georgia Line – ‘Dirt’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/florida-georgia-line-dirt-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/florida-georgia-line-dirt-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:17:00 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406603Instead of riding the bro-country wave of success into more party anthems, FGL threw country music fans a curve ball with "Dirt," the first single from the band's sophomore album, the aptly-titled 'Anything Goes.']]>By Scott T. Sterling

Ever since the term “bro-country” hit music vernacular, Nashville duo Florida Georgia Line have been considered one of its primary proponents. Scoring legions of fans through a steady diet of feel-good songs celebrating the simple life of big trucks, hot women and cold beer in the wide open spaces of rural America, the band would strike gold with 2012 single, “Cruise.”

The very definition of a feel-good party hit, “Cruise” gained even more traction thanks to a savvy remix featuring rapper Nelly, crossing the song and well as the band to an even wider mainstream audience, helping pave the way for country’s current impact on pop and even rock charts and playlists.

Instead of riding the bro-country wave of success into more party anthems, FGL threw country music fans a curve ball with “Dirt,” the first single from the band’s sophomore album, the aptly-titled Anything Goes.

Instead of more babes in bikinis and bad-boy antics, the surprisingly earnest song delivered a heartfelt look at life from the cradle to the grave, taking an existential view of dirt as a metaphor for the time spent in between the two: “You know you came from it (dirt)/And some day you’ll return to this…”

“‘Dirt’ is one of those songs…it’s such a great song. It’s that kind of song that from the time I moved to Nashville (was) to try to write that kind of song,” explains one-half of Florida Georgia Line, Brian Kelley during a recent interview with Radio.com. “We’re inspired by that kind of song. That’s why we moved with all our dreams, packed our stuff up and tried to make it writing songs.

“That [song] came across on tour,” Kelley continues. “Our manager was out with us, and he said, ‘hey guys, I’ve got to play this new song that [noted songwriters] Rodney [Clawson] and Chris [Tompkins] turned in called ‘Dirt.” We got to the end of the chorus, and chill-bump city is what we call it. Just an incredible written song from start to finish. There’s nothing that we would’ve changed about it. Just very blessed that we got to record it. It somehow ended up in our hands.”

The band stresses that the sentiment of the song is less of a change-up and more a genuine reflection of who they are as artists.

“People say, ‘Hey, is that a departure from y’all’s sound?’ And really no, we’re just kind of letting everybody in on really who we are and where we’ve come from,” Kelley adds. “It’s more a return, really, than anything. A lot of our early 2008-2010 demos and songs we were writing were kind of in that vein. It’s cool to let everybody in on who we are and where we come from. We’re country to the core, but we like to incorporate our influences and have a good time, keep it fresh. It’s that FGL sound. That’s who we are.”

Asked about the architecture of “that FGL sound” present on “Dirt,” the band is quick to credit their longtime producer, Joey Moi, who’s worked with the duo since their second EP, It’z Just What We Do.

“We call him ‘the Wizard.” I mean, he really brings songs to life,” raves Tyler Hubbard, the band’s other half. “We’re very blessed to work with him. He really does capture that sound that we’re going for and knows how to bring it together tastefully.”

Watch this year’s ACM Awards airing April 19 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/florida-georgia-line-dirt-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Miranda Lambert – ‘Automatic’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/miranda-lambert-automatic-behind-the-song-acms/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/miranda-lambert-automatic-behind-the-song-acms/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:15:53 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406600If you want to know how Miranda Lambert really feels about the current state of the world—particularly its reliance on technology—just listen to "Automatic."]]>By Shannon Carlin

If you want to know how Miranda Lambert really feels about the current state of the world—particularly its reliance on technology—just listen to “Automatic.”

Lambert wrote the song off her latest album, Platinum, with her two friends, frequent collaborator Natalie Hemby and former Voice contestant Nicolle Galyon, after a conversation the women had about the good ol’ days that just so happen to be not that long ago.

The 30-year-old singer was talking about how when she was growing up in Texas she would listen to music on cassette tapes and how her mom would hang laundry out to dry on the clothes line, not just throw them in the dryer.

This conversation ended up spawning the very nostalgic track’s lines about what it was like before things seemed so easy. How if you had something to tell someone, you’d have to write it in a letter and wait three days for them to get it instead of just sending an email or you’d actually have to call them on the phone, a landline or find a quarter for the pay phone, to have an actual conversation instead of reaching into your pocket to text them whatever emoji seems appropriate at the time.

Lambert’s outlook is easily summed up in the song’s two-line chorus: “It all just seemed so good the way we had it/ Back before everything became automatic.”

“We were all kind of bright-eyed talking about it and I just got a special feeling,” Lambert tells Radio.com of the song. “I got chills…it just really hit home for me. It just really speaks about what got me here, who I am.”

Lambert comes from humble beginnings. She’s the daughter of two private investigators, who worked hard but occasionally found themselves with barely enough to eat. At least one time, Lambert admitted, they were left homeless. But, despite their meager earnings, in 2001, Lambert’s family raised enough money to help her pay for her first album. Two years later, she was a contestant on Nashville Star.

Though, she finished as second runner-up on the reality singing competition, she landed a contract with Sony Music and released her debut Kerosene in 2005. That album earned her four Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with “Me and Charlie Talking,” “Bring Me Down,” “New Strings” and the title track.

That was a decade ago. Now, Lambert is no longer the reality show spitfire trying to prove herself, she’s the Beyoncé of country music, a comparison that goes much further than the two women being part of high profile celebrity marriages. Lambert, like Queen Bey, runs the country music world.

This year, Lambert topped the Billboard 200 chart for the first time ever, won the GRAMMY for Best Country Album and earned seven nominations, including Album of the Year, Female Entertainer of the Year and Single Record of the Year for “Automatic,” at this year’s ACM Awards, which air April 19 on CBS.

Lambert is the gun toting woman who shows all the bros where it’s at and it was drive and determination that got her here. Nothing was easy. Nothing was automatic.

“I just always had this gut feeling about [‘Automatic’] and it sort of brings out a pride about the way I was raised,” she says. “I just feel it says something that needs to be said and felt like the right thing to do to put it out as the first single.”

The album itself, Lambert says, is “a picture of who I am right now” and the person she is right now, wants to sit back, relax and enjoy what it means to be Miranda Lambert.

“The older I’m getting,” she says, “I’m just trying to slow down and appreciate moments.”

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/miranda-lambert-automatic-behind-the-song-acms/feed/0Behind the Song: The Cadillac Three – ‘The South’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/cadillac-three-the-south-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/cadillac-three-the-south-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:15:19 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406597An ode to the South, the Cadillac Three name-drop several Southern states that represent the lifestyle the trio grew up in.]]>By Annie Reuter

When The Cadillac Three‘s Jaren Johnston sat down to write “The South,” he wanted the track to be “an epic, Southern song that hits you immediately the first time you hear it. You know it’s a serious situation you just heard. That’s what I wanted to do. I sat down and wrote that.”

Johnston explains to Radio.com that his goal was to write something that hit people the way “Sweet Home Alabama” hit him the first time he heard it.

“I wasn’t born in Alabama but I knew I wanted to be a part of whatever that song was saying because it was pretty much the most bad-ass thing I heard with that riff,” he recalls. “I was listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin at the time when I wrote it and I wanted to do a mix between ‘Cashmere’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ or ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ and that’s what came out.”

An ode to the South, in the song the Cadillac Three name-dropped several Southern states that represent the lifestyle the trio grew up in. Johnston even admits he has an addiction to putting cities and states in his songs.

“I really went for it on that one so I named every damn one I could think of that rhymed,” he says with a laugh. “That’s not too easy because a lot of them are five syllable words. I think I did pretty damn good.”

So how exactly did he choose which states to include in “The South?”

“I know I had to get Louisiana in there because that’s where my family’s from and obviously Tennessee,” he asserts. “The rest, anything with an ‘a’ ending, I was like, ‘I can make this work!’ It just came.”

Although, not everyone was happy with the song. Specifically, people form the states that weren’t mentioned.

“We got some hell for not having Arkansas in there,” bandmate Kelby Ray adds.

Apparently people from Texas, West Virginia and Missouri were also miffed.

“I had a guy the other day tweet us and ask why we didn’t put Wisconsin in there,” Neil Mason adds. “I was like, ‘That’s pretty far north.'”

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/cadillac-three-the-south-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Florida Georgia Line – ‘This Is How We Roll’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/florida-georgia-line-this-is-how-we-roll-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/florida-georgia-line-this-is-how-we-roll-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:14:11 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406594Sometimes all it takes for a hit song is writing it with your friends.]]>By Annie Reuter

Cole Swindell and Luke Bryan, two of the artists who wrote “This Is How We Roll” with Florida Georgia Line, share with us how the song came to be. As Swindell recalls, all three artists were on Bryan’s Dirt Road Diaries Tour when the song took shape.

“I was in the back of the bus with Brian Kelley writing,” Swindell says with a smile. “The reason we wrote that song was because Luke, the night before, he did a little thing in his show where he was playing ‘Muckalee Creek’ and he was saying, being in the country you can shoot bullets at the moon and no one’s going to bother you. Brian Kelley said, ‘Hey, we gotta write something. Shooting bullets at the moon, I love that idea.’ And we wrote ‘This Is How We Roll’ around it.”

Swindell and Kelley had “This Is How We Roll” started by the time Bryan came in, something Bryan says is the luckiest he’s ever been as a songwriter.

“I just walked up on their bus randomly and I was up there goofing off with them and they were working on ‘This Is How We Roll.’ They said, ‘Sit down and write it with us,'” Bryan recalls of the day he joined Florida Georgia Line and Swindell in writing the song. “They had it halfway done and I was like, ‘Guys, y’all have this thing.'”

While he was hesitant at first, Bryan explains that the guys were adamant about him joining in on the writing process.

“I added my two cents and we knocked it out that day and then we worked it to where it made sense for me to have a cameo on it,” he says. “We do it live on my show and I bring Cole back out and it’s a huge stage moment, huge hit. I felt like that was just right place, right time and great friends letting a buddy in on a song with them.”

Swindell agrees with Bryan, noting the power of studying a friends’ live show and how it helped to inspire the track.

“Florida Georgia Line, as big as they are, they were watching Luke’s show. I think that’s how it should be. We’re all learning from everybody we’re around,” he says. “For Brian to catch that out at Luke’s show and then say, ‘Hey, Luke inspired this. Let’s get him in here to write it.’ He was cool with it and Luke came in and wrote it with us.”

He adds: “It’s just crazy to have two acts that are your good friends, at the top of the genre, record a song that you wrote with them. It’s big for me as a songwriter and an artist.”

Watch this year’s ACM Awards airing April 19 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

Luke Bryan interview by Courtney Smith

]]>http://radio.com/2015/03/16/florida-georgia-line-this-is-how-we-roll-behind-the-song/feed/0Behind the Song: Kacey Musgraves – ‘Follow Your Arrow’http://radio.com/2015/03/16/kacey-musgraves-follow-your-arrow-behind-the-song/
http://radio.com/2015/03/16/kacey-musgraves-follow-your-arrow-behind-the-song/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 12:12:20 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=406591"I just thought it was a cute little song we were writing for Kacey's friend. I didn't know that it would be so revolutionary," Brandy Clark says.]]>By Annie Reuter

“Well I hope it gets attention because I think it’s definitely time for those issues to be accepted in country music,” Kacey Musgraves tells us about her ACM-nominated song “Follow Your Arrow.”

On the song she famously sings, “So, make lots of noise/ Kiss lots of boys/ Or kiss lots of girls/ If that’s something you’re into.”

Musgraves released the song in 2013 after writing it with Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, and it soon became a fan favorite.

“Regardless of your political beliefs, everybody should be able to love who they want to love and live how they want to live,” Musgraves says. “We’re all driven by the same emotions; we all want to be loved and want to feel the same things. So, hopefully people will put aside their personal, political agenda and just agree with that fact.”

“Follow Your Arrow” is a big step for Musgraves, and she thanks strong females who came before her—like Loretta Lynn—for allowing her to talk about things that haven’t been talked about before.

“I think the song ‘Follow Your Arrow’ is the most me as far as where my brain is at or where my mindset is at about life and people in general,” she admits. “It’s one that maybe six years ago I couldn’t have written. I had a different outlook but just growing and learning more about people and life, it’s just allowed to write that. It’s about just doing whatever you want, regardless of what society is going to say.”

Songwriter Brandy Clark talked to us about the song’s evolution and admits that she can’t say enough about what Musgraves’ is doing to push the country genre forward.

“When we wrote ‘Follow Your Arrow,’ she had a friend that was going to the UK for several months,” Clark recalls. “She had written her a little note and it said, ‘Kiss lots of a boys and smoke lots of joints and follow your arrow.’ She wanted to turn that into a song and so we did.”

Clark admits that she immediately fell in love with the song but she never thought it would make Musgraves’ record let alone be a single.

“I thought she was done with her record and I thought, ‘Even somebody as ballsy as Kacey, I didn’t know that she would put it on a record.’ The next thing I know, Shane McAnally he’s like, ‘You gotta hear this’ and he plays me the ‘Follow Your Arrow’ record version.”

She adds: “That song, I’ve had two No. 1 songs I’ve written for other artists and I get more response when I tell people I’ve written ‘Follow Your Arrow.’ It’s crazy. I just thought it was a cute little song we were writing for Kacey’s friend. I didn’t know that it would be so revolutionary.”

“Follow Your Arrow” is nominated for Song of the Year at the 50th annual ACM Awards.

“2 Broke Girls,” currently in its fourth season starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, kicks off CBS’s resurgent Monday lineup at 8:00 PM, averaging 9.58 million viewers, up three precent in the time period over “How I Met Your Mother” and its ownyear ago performance.

CBS also announced this week that Emmy Award-winning actress Jamie Pressly has been added as a series regular beginning next season, to the cast of “Mom.” Pressly, who began guest-starring on the series this season, plays Jill, a rich, self-obsessed divorcee who has been through rehab a few times and is working hard on her sobriety with the help of her friend and sponsor, Christy (Anna Faris).

Lambert leads the awards show with eight nominations, followed closely by Dierks Bentley who has seven nominations. Lambert is nominated for the Entertainer of the Year award alongside Brooks, Bryan, Aldean and Florida Georgia Line.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/11/acm-awards-performers-announced-garth-brooks-luke-bryan-miranda-lambert-more/feed/0Getting To Know James Corden, The New Face Of Late Nighthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/10/james-corden-wiki-facts-bio-late-night/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/10/james-corden-wiki-facts-bio-late-night/#commentsTue, 10 Mar 2015 20:22:55 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=405432James Corden may not be a household name (at least in the United States), but he will be very, very soon.]]>James Corden may not be a household name (at least in the United States), but he will be very, very soon.

Corden is the latest person to take over “The Late Late Show” following Craig Ferguson’s retirement from the late-night talker, but the soon-to-be talk show host isn’t a complete newcomer, even if you haven’t heard his name before.

Hailing from the U.K., Corden has a had a flourishing career across the pond. As Corden makes his move to the U.S. more permanent with his late show gig and roles in films like “Into The Woods” alongside Meryl Streep, one can hope he’ll translate well stateside.

But aside from the charming comedian being British, here are few other things you probably didn’t know about your future favorite talk show host:

Full Name: James Kimberley Corden

Birthdate: August 22, 1978

Birthplace: Hillingdon, London, United Kingdom

Best Known For: The Late Late Show With James Corden, Gavin & Stacey, The Wrong Mans, History Boys

Little Known Facts:

-A Quintuple Threat

Corden is an actor, comedian, singer, writer and producer, making him a jack of all trades in away. You can expect to see Corden put on all of those hats when “The Late Late Show” premieres March 23rd with him as host.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/10/james-corden-wiki-facts-bio-late-night/feed/0Watch Alabama Shakes Bring ‘Don’t Wanna Fight’ To ‘Letterman’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/10/watch-alabama-shakes-bring-dont-wanna-fight-to-letterman/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/10/watch-alabama-shakes-bring-dont-wanna-fight-to-letterman/#commentsTue, 10 Mar 2015 17:31:00 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=405371If you're looking for the best rock band of the moment, here you go.]]>Sound & Color, the upcoming album by Alabama Shakes, is easily one of the most anticipated albums of the year, and the band is making the rounds lately to get the word out. Recently, they performed on Saturday Night Live, and last night they made what is likely to be their final appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.

Introducing them Dave said, “Please welcome back to the program… it’s about time!… Alabama Shakes!”

The band mentioned on their official Facebook page that they’re “really going to miss Dave so we’re going to give him all we got.” And they did, with an impassioned take on “Don’t Wanna Fight,” with their expanded group that sees the quartet (singer/guitarist Brittany Howard, bassist Zac Cockrell, guitarist Heath Fogg and drummer Steve Johnson) augmented by three backing singers and two keyboard players.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/03/10/watch-alabama-shakes-bring-dont-wanna-fight-to-letterman/feed/0CBS Announces Summer 2015 Lineuphttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/27/cbs-announces-summer-2015-lineup/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/27/cbs-announces-summer-2015-lineup/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 15:37:45 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=402666This summer will be hotter than ever for CBS' primetime schedule with the announcement of a new drama, two returning dramas and the summer's biggest reality show.]]>This summer will be hotter than ever for CBS’ primetime schedule with the announcement of a new drama, two returning dramas and the summer’s biggest reality show.

Next up is returning drama “Under the Dome,” which will see its third season’s two-hour premiere on Thursday June 25 at 9:00pm ET/PT before moving to its regular time on Thursday July 2 at 10:00pm ET/PT. The Stephen King thriller will even feature Emmy Award winner Marg Helgenberger in an extended story arc that begins with the premiere episode, so don’t miss it.

After that, new drama “Zoo” has its series premiere on Tuesday, June 30 at 9:00pm ET/PT. The show, based on the James Patterson #1 bestselling novel, focuses on a wave of violent animal attacks against humans that begins taking place across the globe and is guaranteed to be a fun ride. James Wolk takes the lead in the series as Jackson Oz, a young, renegade American zoologist who is spending his days running safaris in Africa when he begins noticing the strange behavior of the animals.

Finally, the Halle Berry drama “Extant” returns for its second season on Wednesday, July 1 at 10:00pm ET/PT. Things still remain a mystery for lead character Molly Woods, especially when Jeffrey Dean Morgan joins the cast as a a roguish womanizer who is also a mercenary/bounty hunter. Hopefully more will be revealed about his connection to Molly this summer, so be sure to catch it.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/27/cbs-announces-summer-2015-lineup/feed/0CBS Drama ‘CSI’ Looking To Break A Guinness World Recordhttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/26/cbs-drama-csi-looking-to-break-a-guinness-world-record/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/26/cbs-drama-csi-looking-to-break-a-guinness-world-record/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 19:02:02 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=402483Be a part of history when CBS’ wildly popular drama “CSI” embarks on a global effort to break the Guinness World Record for “Largest Ever TV Drama Simulcast.”]]>Be a part of history when CBS’ wildly popular drama “CSI” embarks on a global effort to break the Guinness World Record for “Largest Ever TV Drama Simulcast” on March 4th.

Wednesday, March 4th will be dubbed Word CSI Day to celebrate 15 years of the CSI franchise and the journey to break the world record which is currently held by British show “Doctor Who.”

In addition, special collectors’ edition art, commissioned to commemorate each of the series in the CSI family, will take over the shows’ Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The global experience will feature a simulcast of the “CSI: Crime Scene Investigtion” episode “Kitty,” and will air in more than 150 countries at 7:00pm ET (12:00 GMT) and stream in the U.S. on CBS.com from 4:00pm PT to 12:00am PT.

That same night, the newest series in the franchise, “CSI: Cyber” starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette, will premiere at 10:00pm ET.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/26/cbs-drama-csi-looking-to-break-a-guinness-world-record/feed/0James Corden’s First ‘Late Late Show’ Guest Revealedhttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/20/james-cordens-first-late-late-show-guest-revealed/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/20/james-cordens-first-late-late-show-guest-revealed/#commentsFri, 20 Feb 2015 17:47:13 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=400779The new "Late Late Show" host has secured his first guest.]]>LOS ANGELES (CBS) - The “Late Late Show with James Corden” has landed its first guest.

Nearly a month before the show premieres, CBS announced via twitter that Tom Hanks will be Corden’s first guest when he make his debut Monday, March 23rd.

Since Craig Ferguson stepped away from hosting duties in December, a series of guest hosts have been filling in behind the desk, including Drew Carey, Will Arnett, Wayne Brady, Jim Gaffigan, Judd Apatow, John Mayer and Regis Philbin.

Corden himself even stopped by to shadow guest host Judd Apatow and “learn from his mistakes.”

Joining the Sunday night line up on CBS is “Battle Creek,” a Vince Gilligan-produced (“Breaking Bad”) drama, that follows two mismatched law enforcement officers with polar opposite views of the world and crime-solving.

The duo’s emotions range from frustration to humor and play out as they clean up the rough streets of Battle Creek, Michigan. When Special Agent Milton Chamberlain, played by Josh Duhamel, opens a new FBI field office at Battle Creek’s police station, Dt. Russ Agnew, played by Dean Winters, he finds his world flipped upside down.

It isn’t long before charismatic Agent Chamberlain chooses Dt. Agnew to be his partner and brings an arsenal of state-of-the-art equipment to the underfunded police station, run by fellow law enforcement Commander Guziewicz, played by Janet McTeer, and Dt. White, played by Kal Penn. Agent Chamberlain seems like the perfect solution, but will his charm be enough?

“It is written as quirky,” two-time Academy Award nominee Janet McTeer says of the show. “And quirky is always a weird word. Does it mean cute? Does it mean coming at something from a slightly different angle? I would like to think that it’s all of the above, but not cute.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/20/new-on-cbs-primetime-battle-creek/feed/0Preview The ‘Victoria’s Secret Swim Special’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/20/preview-the-victorias-secret-swim-special/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/20/preview-the-victorias-secret-swim-special/#commentsFri, 20 Feb 2015 14:00:47 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=400610The Angel's of Victoria's Secret are back with a brand new TV special.]]>The Angel’s of Victoria’s Secret are back with a brand new show, “The Victoria’s Secret Swim Special.” Instead of rocking their normal runway the ladies take us on location to Puerto Rico to shoot their latest swimwear campaign.

Joining them on the island to perform exclusively will be Grammy Award-winning artists Maroon 5 and Juanes.

Tune in to CBS Thursday, February 26th at 10pm.

And in the meantime check out these behind the scene photos Angel’s Candice Swanepoel, Lily Aldridge, Behati Prinsloo, Alessandra Ambrosio and more shared.

Alessandra Ambrosio

Candice Swanepoel

Behati Prinsloo

Joan Smalls

Lily Aldridge

Adam Levine

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/20/preview-the-victorias-secret-swim-special/feed/0A Guide To CBS’ 2015 Pilot Season Ordershttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/19/a-guide-to-cbs-2015-pilot-season-orders/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/19/a-guide-to-cbs-2015-pilot-season-orders/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 20:49:19 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=400600The 2015 pilot season has started, and CBS has already ordered plenty of new dramas and comedies]]>Ladies and gentlemen, the orders are in and pilot season is upon us. So what does that mean for you the viewer?

It means that a large number of shows will have at least a first episode produced, usually the first episode of the series. Studios then present these pilot episodes to the networks to gauge whether they want to advance a pilot episode to a full series or not. So as excited as we are to see so many of our favorite stars being cast in these new shows, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will see them on our TV screens this fall.

The only pilot with a series commitment so far, “Supergirl” will see Superman’s female cousin solving crimes each week as she also navigates the world of being a young professional.

Doubt (starring Laverne Cox, Dule Hill & Kobi Libii)

This legal drama centers on a smart, chic defense attorney at a boutique law firm who become romantically involved with one of her clients; a client who may or may not be guilty of committing a brutal crime.

Code Black (starring Marcia Gay Harden)

Based on the documentary of the same name, “Code Black” follows the staff at the LA County Hospital, the country’s busiest and most notorious hospital, as they confront a broken system.

Limitless (produced by Bradley Cooper)

Based on the hit film starring Bradley Cooper, the series version will follow Brian Sinclair, the same character played by Cooper in the film, as he uses his newfound powers from the mysterious drug NZT to solve weekly cases for the FBI.

This spinoff to the popular Criminal Minds series will focus on another division of the FBI whose goal is to help American citizens that find themselves in trouble abroad, bringing an international vibe to the franchise.

For Justice

Coming from “Selma” director Ava DuVernay, this drama, based on James Patterson’s novel of the same name, takes place during the civil rights era in America when a hit man is hired to assassinate the first black mayor of Nashville.

Sneaky Pete

Executive produced and written by Bryan Cranston, “Sneaky Pete” tells the story of a con man who assumes the identity of his cellmate upon leaving prison, creating problems for characters from his dark past.

Rush Hour

Another TV adaption of a hit film, “Rush Hour” remain true the film series with a by-the-book Hong Kong police officer being assigned to work a case with a cocky black LAPD officer.

LFE

This medical drama is described as a fast-paced procedural that follows second-year residents at a top NYC hospital.

~

COMEDIES

Taxi-22 (starring John Leguizamo, Lenny Venito & Sahr Ngaujah)

A passion project of the late James Gandolfini, “Taxi-22” is a comedy that follows a disgruntled NYC taxi driver and the hilarious, crazy passengers he hauls around the city.

Beyonce kicked off the taped event presented by the Recording Academy by walking up an isle of the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live and singing “Fingertips.” Ed Sheeran joined the diva on “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” and Gary Clark Jr. jumped in on “Higher Ground.”

The night was full of collaborative highlights: A trio of India.Arie, Janelle Monae and Jill Scott shined like a seasoned girl group on “As”; Pharrell and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder stretched their voices as high as possible; Babyface and Ariana Grande were soft on “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”; and Wonder’s daughter, Aisha, sang the song written about her — “Isn’t She Lovely” — with R&B singer Ne-Yo.

“I love you, Daddy,” Aisha said, now standing next to her father who sat in the front row.

The rest of the night played like a love letter to Wonder.

Gaga said she remembered putting in her first CD into the CD player — a Wonder disc.

“You truly are the reason that I’m here today. Thank you so much,” said 28-year-old Gaga, who earned a standing ovation with her rendition of “I Wish.”

Andrea Bocelli, who was impressive when he sang “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” told Wonder and the crowd he assumed the song was “simple” to sing, but learned it wasn’t.

“I did my best just to say I love you,” the Italian tenor said, as the crowd was in awe.

Other performers included John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, the Band Perry and Tony Bennett, who delivered the goods on “For Once in My Life,” and Lennox, who was top notch during “My Cherie Amour.”

Even some of the presenters were musical: Tyler Perry sounded like a promising singer after delivering some of Wonder’s lyrics, and actor-comedian Craig Robinson, who is also musician, also sang before he introduced a video of Wonder’s silly side.

“Y’all clapped when Tyler sang,” Robinson said to laughs.

Jay Z, Jamie Foxx, Maya Rudolph, Gladys Knight, Big Sean and Berry Gordy attended the concert, dubbed “Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life — An All-Star Grammy Salute.” It will air Monday on CBS.

Wonder ended the night with a medley of his songs and was joined onstage with all of the performers and presenters for “Happy Birthday,” which happened after a video played showing Wonder campaigning to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. become a national holiday.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/12/isnt-he-lovely-beyonce-gaga-pharrell-honor-stevie-wonder/feed/0New On CBS Primetime, ‘The Odd Couple’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/new-on-cbs-primetime-the-odd-couple/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/new-on-cbs-primetime-the-odd-couple/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 14:00:52 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=396820“The Odd Couple” is a comedy following two former college buddies who become unlikely roommates after the demise of their respective marriages.]]>http://media.newyork.cbslocal.com/CBSNY_20150203124630903AA.mp4

A remake is difficult to pull off, but CBS does it with “The Odd Couple,” a comedy about two former college buddies who become unlikely roommates after the demise of their respective marriages.

Starring Matthew Perry as endearing slob Oscar Madison and Thomas Lennon as uptight neat freak Felix Unger, the pair run into a slew of hilarious antics when Felix makes the monumental mistake of letting Oscar move in with him.

“A lot of people said Matthew Perry’s doing ‘The Odd Couple’ and they need someone to play Felix,” Thomas Lennon said about acting alongside Matthew Perry. “And I was like ‘Yep! Check! I am that!'”

Luckily for Felix, his quirky neighbor Emily, played by Lindsay Sloane, helps him adapt to his new life with slovenly Oscar while Oscar’s assistant Dani, played by Yvette Nicole Brown, and long-time agent Teddy, played by Wendell Pierce, try to keep Oscar’s career as a sports radio host on track.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/new-on-cbs-primetime-the-odd-couple/feed/0Kanye West: Beck ‘Should Have Given His Award to Beyonce’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/kanye-west-beck-should-have-given-his-award-to-beyonce/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/kanye-west-beck-should-have-given-his-award-to-beyonce/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 06:01:50 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397944He also said the Kardashian's should own part of E!.]]>By Kevin Rutherford

The moment was captured in a Vine by Complex that has been widely circulated since.

But that wasn’t all: in another clip from the show, West decided to present another hot take to the fine viewers of E!: that Beck, who scored Album of the Year for Morning Phase, should give his award to Beyonce, who was nominated for her self-titled release.

Of course, that followed West jumping onstage after Beck was announced the winner, emulating his famed stage-rushing at the VMAs a few years ago when Taylor Swift’s video won over, again, Beyonce’s, but instead pulled away at the last second. Many took it as a joke, but after his comments on E!, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if there were something else there.

West performed twice at the GRAMMYs, first with his rendition of his song “Only One” and then again with Rihanna and Paul McCartney for “FourFiveSeconds.”

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/kanye-west-beck-should-have-given-his-award-to-beyonce/feed/0How Ferguson Came to the GRAMMYshttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/how-ferguson-came-to-the-grammys/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/how-ferguson-came-to-the-grammys/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 05:44:04 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397941Pharrell, Beyonce, John Legend and Common got in on the protest.]]>By Kevin Rutherford

As expected, Black Lives Matter came to the GRAMMYs.

But it didn’t begin with a performance of “Glory,” the song from civil rights historical film Selma performed by John Legend and Common. Nor did it start with the track that preceded it, Beyonce doing Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite song, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.”

It began, instead, with one of the most unlikely songs of the night: Pharrell‘s “Happy.”

The hands-up-don’t-shoot pose that became a rallying cry after the Ferguson, Mo., shooting of Michael Brown was displayed by the backup dancers during the performance of the usually upbeat tune. Many surmised on Twitter that the dreary version of “Happy” was referencing the shooting of Michael Brown and the death of Eric Garner in New York City, and once the dancers displayed the hands up motion, it was practically solidified.

Later, following the final awards of the night—Album, Record and Song of the Year—Beyonce emerged for “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”—and again, the backing singers raised both their hands as they sang the classic gospel tune.

It was followed by “Glory,” which has been linked closely with protests over the killings of Brown and Garner since its release—and again, the backing performers, plus Common himself, made the sign, showing solidarity with those still protesting months later.

Not only that—though he didn’t raise his hands, Prince also showed his support during his lead-in speech to the Album of the Year winner. “Like books and black lives, albums still matter,” he said to a round of applause.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/how-ferguson-came-to-the-grammys/feed/0Sam Smith Wins GRAMMY Record of the Year for ‘Stay with Me’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/sam-smith-wins-grammy-record-of-the-year-for-stay-with-me/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/sam-smith-wins-grammy-record-of-the-year-for-stay-with-me/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 05:31:37 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397931Album of the Year was the only big one that eluded him.]]>By Kevin Rutherford

The final award at the night during the GRAMMYs didn’t go to an album—this time, it went to Record of the Year.

After cleaning up in the Best New Artist and Song of the Year categories—the latter for “Stay with Me” as well—Smith won the Record of the Year for “Stay with Me” (the Darkchild version—for the difference between it and the original, read this).

We know Sia isn’t so keen on showing her face in public (so, hey, why not record a pop album?), but her GRAMMY performance tonight was some other-level shy stuff.

Sia’s performance of “Chandelier” began with a wigged Kristen Wiig (yes, really) lip-synching the song on a set that looked like a cross between a living room and antique store (with maybe a dash of Pee Wee’s Playhouse). Wiig was joined by another mini-Sia: Maddie Ziegler, the 12-year-old star of Sia’s “Chandelier” video.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/kristen-wiig-stars-in-sias-chandelier-grammy-peformance/feed/0Beyonce, Common, John Legend Bring Old and New Gospel to GRAMMY-Ending Performancehttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/beyonce-common-john-legend-bring-old-and-new-gospel-to-grammy-ending-performance/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/beyonce-common-john-legend-bring-old-and-new-gospel-to-grammy-ending-performance/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 05:07:32 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397925The performance featured a classic gospel song, and one that's surely destined to be.]]>By Brian Ives

Common and John Legend performed their already-classic “Glory” from Selma, at the GRAMMYs to close out the night. The song won a Golden Globe and seems to have a strong shot at winning an Academy Award at the Oscars in a few weeks.

The performance began with Beyonce’s rendition of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” with the singer dressed in angelic white and backed by a gospel choir all dressed in white but barefoot.

Common and John Legend then led a huge string section through an emotional “Glory.”

While Beyonce‘s fans were feeling a bit jilted that Bey didn’t win Album of the Year a few minutes earlier, R&B singer Ledisi‘s fans were a bit upset about Yonce performing “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.”

However, she was gracious about her situation: “What I will say and what I’m excited about is that I had the pleasure of playing an iconic figure in Selma, and the song, ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord,’ it’s been going on forever – starting with the queen Mahalia [Jackson], the queen of soul Aretha Franklin,” Ledisi told ET’s Kevin Frazier on the carpet.

“Then, I was able to portray and sing my version of the song, and now we have Beyonce. Her generation will now know the song, so I’m a part of history,” she said.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/beyonce-common-john-legend-bring-old-and-new-gospel-to-grammy-ending-performance/feed/0GRAMMY Red Carpet Trends: A Whole Lot of Black Because We’re Sad This Yearhttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/grammy-red-carpet-trends-a-whole-lot-of-black-because-were-sad-this-year/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/grammy-red-carpet-trends-a-whole-lot-of-black-because-were-sad-this-year/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 05:06:48 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397922Seriously. Lots of black.]]>If you had to focus on one, black was definitely the color of choice on the red carpet for tonight’s 57th annual GRAMMY Awards, from the dresses of Beyonce, Miranda Lambert and Nicki Minaj to Gwen Stefani’s jumpsuit and Madonna’s eye-grabbing matador chic.

Of course for every rule there are plenty of exceptions. So along with Swift’s shimmering teal gown, we saw Lady Gaga in silver, Charli XCX and Katy Perry in white, and Ariana Grande in a curious combination of the two.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/grammy-red-carpet-trends-a-whole-lot-of-black-because-were-sad-this-year/feed/0GRAMMY Winners 2015: See the Full Listhttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/grammy-winners-2015-see-the-full-list/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/grammy-winners-2015-see-the-full-list/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 04:55:56 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397842See the full list of winners at this year's GRAMMYs.]]>By Radio.com Staff

Today (Feb. 8), the buildup to the biggest night in music concludes with the 57th annual GRAMMYs, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

At the end of the day, it was Sam Smith who arguably cleaned up, winning the awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year (both for “Stay with Me”) and Best New Artist.

But he couldn’t accomplish the sweep—instead, Album of the Year went to Beck’s Morning Phase.

Radio.com contributors weighed in all night via our GRAMMYs live blog, where we discussed the night’s events in full, from winners to performances. Additionally, check out our GRAMMYs hub for all our content from throughout the day.

Best Musical Theater Album

Aladdin

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

West Side Story

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/grammy-winners-2015-see-the-full-list/feed/0Rihanna, Paul McCartney and Kanye West Perform ‘FourFiveSeconds’ at the GRAMMYshttp://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/rihanna-paul-mccartney-and-kanye-west-perform-fourfiveseconds-at-the-grammys/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/rihanna-paul-mccartney-and-kanye-west-perform-fourfiveseconds-at-the-grammys/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 04:24:03 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397905The song was only released days ago, but Rihanna's collaboration with Kanye West and Paul McCartney got its first public performance on the 57th Annual GRAMMYs.]]>By Brian Ives

On a pretty spare stage, the somewhat unlikely trio performed the song with a bit more instruments than the studio version, which only features Sir Paul’s acoustic guitar and keyboards. This time they added a bass player and guitarist.

Will they ever hit the stage together again? Or will Paul move on to work with other younger artists (recall that last year he won a GRAMMY for “Cut Me Some Slack,” his collaboration with Nirvana alum Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear).

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/rihanna-paul-mccartney-and-kanye-west-perform-fourfiveseconds-at-the-grammys/feed/0Sam Smith Wins Song of the Year GRAMMY for ‘Stay with Me’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/sam-smith-wins-song-of-the-year-grammy-for-stay-with-me/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/sam-smith-wins-song-of-the-year-grammy-for-stay-with-me/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 04:17:28 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397902The singer, who took home the award for Best New Artist earlier in the evening, earned the distinction for Song of the Year for his song "Stay with Me"—the Darkchild version, that is.]]>By Kevin Rutherford

Sam Smith has had a very good night—and that’s even by his own admission.

The singer, who took home the award for Best New Artist earlier in the evening, earned the distinction for Song of the Year for his song “Stay with Me”—the Darkchild version, that is.

If you’re behind a bit, the Darkchild version and original version of the song differ only slightly, with Rodney Jerkins taking the production reins for the former. See a full explanation here.

Smith scored the win over a slew of big singles from the previous year, including Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass,” Sia’s “Chandelier,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” and Hozier’s “Take Me to Church.”

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/sam-smith-wins-song-of-the-year-grammy-for-stay-with-me/feed/0GRAMMYs Album of the Year: Beck Wins for ‘Morning Phase’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/grammys-album-of-the-year-beck-wins-for-morning-phase/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/grammys-album-of-the-year-beck-wins-for-morning-phase/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 04:08:48 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397899He may have flown under the radar the whole ride, but in the end, Beck came out on top.]]>By Kevin Rutherford

He may have flown under the radar the whole ride, but in the end, Beck came out on top.

The rocker scored the award for Album of the Year for his album Morning Phase—and seemed as baffled as many upon accepting his award, even weathering a fake Kanye West stage storming to do so.

As he reached the stage, West faked a juke toward the microphone, presumably to say that Beyonce had one of the best albums of all time.

And if he wasn’t joking, he at least thought better about it.

He beat out Beyonce’s Beyonce, Ed Sheeran’s X, Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour and Pharrell’s G I R L for the award.

Prince presented the award, making a strong declaration before revealing the winner. “Like books and black lives, albums still matter,” he said to a round of applause.

For more commentary on the awards, performances and looks of the 2015 GRAMMYs, follow along for the rest of the evening with our GRAMMYs live blog.

]]>http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/grammys-album-of-the-year-beck-wins-for-morning-phase/feed/0Usher Pays Tribute to Stevie Wonder on the GRAMMYs with ‘If It’s Magic’http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/usher-pays-tribute-to-stevie-wonder-on-the-grammys-with-if-its-magic/
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/02/08/usher-pays-tribute-to-stevie-wonder-on-the-grammys-with-if-its-magic/#commentsMon, 09 Feb 2015 03:38:44 +0000cbskaposthttp://washington.cbslocal.com/?p=397896In a few nights, the GRAMMYs will put on a huge all-star tribute to Stevie Wonder, but they started it off a bit early at the 57th Annual GRAMMYs with a performance by Usher.]]>By Brian Ives

In a few nights, the GRAMMYs will put on a huge all-star tribute to Stevie Wonder, but they started it off a bit early at the 57th Annual GRAMMYs with a performance by Usher.

The singer started with a performance of “If It’s Magic” from Stevie’s classic Songs in the Key of Life album, joined at the end of the song by Stevie himself on harmonica. An odd choice, as there are much bigger hits (and more obvious choices) from that album, but Ush did it justice.

Wonder has been celebrating that album—a double album that originally included a bonus 45-inch because two LPs wasn’t enough—with a tour where he plays the album in full, each night. Radio.com was at opening night at Madison Square Garden last year, check out our review here.

Usher, along with Janelle Monae, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Willie Nelson, The Band Perry, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and John Legend will tape in Los Angeles Tuesday night, and will air February 16 at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.